In Slow Motion
by Lizzie9
Summary: Of two things, Ziva was painfully aware. The first, Tony was going to die if he didnt get help soon. The second? To save him, she would have to get past her father. She felt the cold metal of her gun at her side, and knew she had only moments. Post Aliyah
1. Chapter 1

**Title: In Slow Motion**

**Authors: Sara and Lizzie**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: We don't own NCIS. If we did, Tony and Ziva would be married with Italian ninja kids. **

**Summary: Picks up where Season 2 left off- we meant to start posting it earlier than the day before the season premiere, but that didn't happen. Basically, it's the Tony Ziva story after Aliyah, and yes, it's Tiva. There may be some Abby/McGee if we get particularly sentimental, and undertones of Gibbs and Jenny because....**

**IMPORTANT thing to remember, we tried to write Vance and hated it, so we took some liberties and decided Director Shepherd never died. **

**Enjoy and review!**

_I will build a path to you._

He hadn't slept last night. He kept himself up all night because when he slept, he saw her in his dreams. Teasing him, confusing her idioms and her pop culture. He dreamed of her every night, without fail. The night before last he dreamed of her in the emerald dress, and the way she looked at him, seriously, and slightly disgusted, asking him something ridiculous.

_Why would a fish be in a barrel? _

"I don't know Ziva." He muttered to himself. He didn't know anything anymore, except that he can't stay awake to avoid her. His eyelids are beginning to droop at his desk, from a combination of exhaustion and utter boredom. In his corner, McGee is droning on about Africa or South America or somewhere. Tony felt delirious as she slipped into his mind's eye; like he could reach out and touch her.

He put his head in his hand and allowed himself to slip into dreams, even though he can already feel Gibbs smacking his head when he finds him sleeping. Maybe it was that thought, but he dreamed of her talking to their Boss, the looks she would shoot him behind Gibbs' retreating back.

'_Agent David, you're late.' She eyed Gibbs, arching one perfect eyebrow over her dark chocolate eyes. _

'_Gibbs, please.' She said lightly. 'It has only been five minutes. You should not worry until it has been ten. At that time…' she trailed off, her expression still jovial. _

'_After ten minutes, I'll come looking for you in Somalia, David.' He said, his expression serious. She refused to acknowledge the severity of his words._

'_And I appreciate that Agent Gibbs.' _

Tony dreamed of that day, and then Ziva in the green dress, eyes shining. Her, face flushed, chest heaving, after chasing down a suspect. The way she used to tease him. She was a screamer, and he could have anything he wanted. He slept for an hour, and three times he dreamed of that conversation. _I'll come looking for you in Somalia._ His eyes fluttered, but Tony stayed in that place between waking and sleeping, between delirium and reality.

And that's when it hit him; it came together like lightning. The conversation he kept dreaming of, words from her own perfect lips, what little information Abby and McGee had been able to uncover. There was only one explanation for where she was. And he wasn't the only one who knew.

Tony's eyes snapped open with the force of simultaneous revelations. She was in Africa somewhere, kidnapped by the very people who didn't want Moussad sending her to NCIS in the first place, probably the people Rifkin was involved with and Gibbs had already figured that out. That discovery didn't shock him nearly as much as the second one he had. He was irreversibly, wholly in love with Ziva David, trained Israeli killer, a fact that would lead to his damnation or his salvation.

Saved or damned, Tony didn't care. His entire existence as he knew it had been replaced with one unifying idea that was the last thing holding him together. Find Ziva.

This notion that hummed through his blood stream knocked him into the realm of reality. He looked up from his desk to find himself staring into the eyes of Gibbs.

"You son of a bitch." Tony said.

McGee's head snapped up and Abby and Ducky froze getting off the elevator. From her stance, poised on the staircase above them, even the Director stopped short, but Gibbs didn't acknowledge any of them.

He kept his eyes trained on Tony, trying to convey to him what a difficult, excruciating decision it had been. Ziva had become like a daughter, and as much he wanted to save her, sending Tony after her would only cause him to lose them both, so he sacrificed the daughter to save the son.

"You know." Tony said, his voice full of venom. He looked around the room. "He knows. He knows where Ziva is."

"What?" McGee asked. Gibbs turned his head slightly and gave him a look that silenced him.

Tony's eyes stayed trained on his boss. "How could you not tell me?" he asked, his voice low and even, but deadly. "You all of people knew what she was to... It's Ziva, Gibbs. How the hell could you not tell me?"

"I had my reasons, DiNozzo." Gibbs told him calmly. Tony was silent for a long time, just standing there, staring at Gibbs. For an absurd moment, everyone in the room seemed to relax, as though they thought he was going to accept that, sit back down, and continue working. The silence dragged on, until Anthony DiNozzo finally exploded.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he shouted. "She could be dying! She could be..." through his enraged screaming, he couldn't bring himself to say dead. "What if it's too late?"

"She's a Mossad agent, Tony. She's not your partner anymore." Gibbs said, shrugging. On the landing above them, Jenny frowned.

"You're right!" Tony shouted. "She's not just my partner, she's everything!" Ducky raised his eyebrows and Abby clapped a hand over her mouth. Tony shook his head and grabbed his gun from his drawer. "I'm going to find her," he said defiantly. "And I'm going to bring her home."

"It's a suicide mission, DiNozzo!" Gibbs shouted. Tony slammed his gun on his desk and looked at Gibbs again.

"And you think this is a life worth living?" he shouted. Gibbs opened his mouth, but Tony cut him off. "I am not you, Gibbs!" he shouted. "I can't live without her, and I will never get over this."

"If you walk out of this room, you're disobeying a direct command. It's a firing offense."

"Fire me then." Tony snapped. "I never should have let you leave her there. God, I could have stayed. Made her see it…" he trailed off and a far away look came over his face. As soon as it hit him, he seemed to snap out of it.

"McGee, will you get me everything you've had on her since she left?" Tony asked, starting to mobilize, gather everything he needed. "Abs, can you help?"

Abby nodded and joined McGee at his computer. "Ducky, I need a refresher course in, uh, emergency medicine, and it has to be fast." Tony said, earning a nod from the Medical Examiner. He looked up the staircase at the Director. "Jenny," he said, addressing her by name, "Let me go." She studied him for a long time, her eyes flicking to Gibbs for only a second before nodding yes.

He nodded his thanks, and then started out of the room. "Abs, McGee, make me proud. Find out where she is and get me close. Duck, I'll meet you downstairs in five."

"Just a minute." Gibbs said, stopping Tony in his tracks. Jethro stepped in front of him, blocking his exit.

DiNozzo turned around and faced him. His boss, his mentor, his replacement father. "I'm following a rule." he said quietly.

"Which one is that?" Gibbs asked.

"Rule number one. Don't screw your partner over. And don't tell me she's not my partner, because my gut and my head and my heart are all screaming at me to get to Ziva, and I swear to you Gibbs, if you do not move, I will move you."

Gibbs slowly stepped to the side. "Be careful, DiNozzo."

They all watched in silence as Tony strode out of the room. A full minute after the elevator doors closed, McGee nudged Abby. "So this means he's in love with Ziva?" he whispered.

"Not much gets past you, McGee." she muttered.

He nodded. "We should hurry then."


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: In Slow Motion**

**Authors: Sara and Lizzie**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: We don't own NCIS. If we did, Tony and Ziva would be married with Italian ninja kids. **

**Summary: Picks up where Season 2 left off- we meant to start posting it earlier than the day before the season premiere, but that didn't happen. Basically, it's the Tony Ziva story after Aliyah, and yes, it's Tiva. There may be some Abby/McGee if we get particularly sentimental, and undertones of Gibbs and Jenny because....**

**IMPORTANT thing to remember, we tried to write Vance and hated it, so we took some liberties and decided Director Shepherd never died. **

**Enjoy and review! PLEASE REVIEW!**

_I'm like a prisoner getting ready to talk, I feel the blood in my hands._

"I'm going to make my move soon." Tony said into the reciever. "I'm close. Too close to stay here for too long." Abby and McGee locked eyes over the speaker.

"How did you do it?" McGee finally asked. "That was supposed to be the impossible." Despite being miles, countries and time zones away, Tony shook his head like McGee could see it.

"Don't ask me that Probie." he said solemnly. "Trust me when I say you don't want to know." And of that, he was certain. For the last three weeks, he had battled to desert heat, cursing it constantly, wondering how she ever lived like this.

In that heat, he had done the unthinkable, things he was sure he would never do, would never be reduced to doing. For twenty two days, Tony DiNozzo had been on a mission. He beat or shot anyone who stood in his way, and he found a way to extract information from those who knew what he needed to know. In some ways, he felt completely unlike himself, and in others, he knew this was the only thing he needed to be doing.

"You haven't done anything stupidly heroic, have you?" Abby's voice cut through his memories. "Your not about to walk inside some cave so she can walk out?"

"Of course not Abs." he said, even though the thought had crossed his mind. "It doesn't count if we don't both come home." This seemed to satisfy Abby.

"How did you do it then?" she asked again.

_"Tell me where she is." Tony said, pressing his gun into the man's temple. "Now." _

_"I don't know!" his captive said. "I know the who and the how, not the why." _

_"Who?" Tony demanded. He would kill them, whoever the who was. He would kill them with his own two hands if it was the last thing that he ever did. _

_"Her father, Eli David." the young man said, scared. "It was brought to his attention, argued as a case for Israel, and he went for it." _

_"Director David let this happen?" A trembling nod. _

"_Why?" Tony demanded. _

"_Two birds, one rock. Only the insiders in Mossad knew about the problems with Ziva. Sending her somewhere where she would almost inevitably die would appease them, and ensure she wouldn't jeopardize her father's initiatives. It would make the lower ranks angry. They would want to avenge the daughter of Israel. _

"_Stone." Tony said, shaking his head. "Two birds, one stone. What were the problems with Ziva?" _

"_Director David thought… he thought she wasn't in love with Michael. He thought she fell in love with someone from NCIS." _

_Tony had let that one go. _

"Abby, I wasn't kidding." he said. He didn't want them to know. The means would justify the end, that's all that mattered.

_He knew without doubt or hesitation that he would shoot this time. It wouldn't be the first time, or the last, but it was the only time he wanted to pull the trigger. _

_"Michael's girl? Took too much into her hands, she did. Forgot her place. She is deserving of everything she is getting. I hope her pretty face bleeds." Michael Rifkin's cousin Rafi told Tony. The thought of anything but porcelain skin, endless eyes and the most perfect lips he had ever seen on her pretty face lit a fire in Tony he hadn't felt since...ever. _

_"You worthless little son of a bitch." he muttered. Before he could stop himself, the knife hidden in shoe, a gift from none other than Ziva was in his hands and in Rafi's side. His scream pierced the still stifling night air. "Tell me where she is." _

"_I will do nothing to save that woman." He spat out. Tony held the knife to his throat with one hand, while his other hand traveled down Rafi's arm and effortlessly snapped his wrist. Just the way Ziva taught him to. Rafi screamed again. The first time Tony had caused someone to make that noise, he had felt sick with guilt, disgusted with himself. But now, as time slipped by and the fear he wouldn't find her increased, the guilt disappeared. _

"_Where is Ziva?" he asked again, pressing the knife against the younger man's throat. "Tell me and I'll let you go." Rafi shook his head so Tony cut into his throat, just enough to terrify. Rafi looked in Tony's eyes through his gasps and panicked screams, until finally he mustered up coordinates. _

"_I hope she is broken when you find her. I hope you find nothing but a lifeless and broken body." Tony no longer had a desire to shoot him. He didn't hesitate before angling the knife into the cut he had just made, and extending it to the jugular. Another trick he picked up from the David School of Self Defense. _

"_That one was for you, Zi." He said to Rafi's body as he left the room. It was all for her. _

"We found the location of the coordinates, Tony." McGee's voice cut into his memory, snapping him back to the present.

"McGee, Abby, you're great. It's her exact location?" McGee nodded, as if they were at their desks and Tony could see the gesture.

"Even the limited intel we've gotten backs it up." He said.

"So where am I going?" Tony asked.

"Agent DiNozzo, how did you obtain these coordinates?" Tony winced as the Director's voice sounded through the airwaves.

"You told the Director?" he groaned.

"Sorry Tony!" Abby burst out. "But she was on to us and she's kind of Gibbs like, or at least very scary when she wants information."

"I'm still standing right here." Jenny pointed out. "Now, DiNozzo, how did you get her location?"

"You don't want to know." Abby and McGee answered in unison. Director Sheppard shot them a look.

"It's what he told both of us!" McGee protested.

"And it's true." Tony chimed in. "Look, let's finish this up before Gibbs catches on, okay?" The silence on the other end told him who was there before he heard the voice.

"Too late, DiNozzo." Gibbs said. "How'd you track her down?"

"You don't want to know." Abby and McGee said again, this time joined by Jenny. Gibbs gave them all the stare.

"That's what he told all of us." Jenny said shrugging. Gibbs looked at the phone as if he could convey his glare to Tony thousands of miles away.

"I won't tell you, Gibbs." Tony said.

"Why the hell not?"

"In case it would ever force you to testify against me." Tony said, seriously.

"You killed for her." Gibbs said, avoiding Jenny's eyes.

"She's my partner." Tony said. Jenny raised her eyes at Gibbs, but he was still staring at the phone.

"That's taking rule number one to the extreme, don't you think DiNozzo?"

"It's not a rule number one case anymore, Director." Gibbs answered for her. "Now it's rule number twelve."

"I don't have time for rules." Tony said. "Just tell me where to find her."

"She's in a known terrorist operations base, Tony." McGee said. "Told you finding them was close to impossible."

"Unless you happen to be Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo."

"Or in love." Abby whispered to McGee.

"Heard that." Tony muttered.

"They seem to be one and the same, DiNozzo." Gibbs said.

"Enough!" Jenny snapped. "Bottom line DiNozzo, I called in a favor and you're going to have Navy SEALS and a highly trained Marine Corps Unit for backup. We're sending them the location now so they can put a strategy together."

"Just give us a minute, Tony." Abby said. "We'll patch them through and talk this over." It only took moments to put it all into play.

"God those Marines mean business." Tony said as they got off the line. "Now we know where Gibbs get it."

"Oh no." McGee said suddenly.

"You think that's not where Gibbs gets it?" Tony asked, feeling lighter than he had in months. There was a plan. A plan to save Ziva.

"They heard the call." McGee said. "The communications director at their base. They hacked in through a weak spot in the local connections the Marines were using."

"What the hell does that mean, McGee?" Gibbs asked.

"It means they know we're coming."

* * *

It must have been nighttime, because it was cold now. That or the seasons were changing. Ziva had lost track of how long she had been there. Everything hurt; some of it stung, some of it ached and some of it throbbed, but everything hurt now, inside and out.

_Why are you on top of me? _

Tony. She would give anything for him now, for just two more seconds. It was never supposed to be this way. She was going to go home and straighten it out in her head. She was going to explain to her father who she was now, who she had become. Who Gibbs and Abby and McGee and Ducky and Tony, especially Tony had made her. She would apologize to Michael's grave for never truly being his, and then she would go back to the one who truly had her heart, and tell him that it sat in his hands.

But there was no place for that now. There never would be. Because she was certain that she would die here. Despite everything Mossad had prepared her for, this was something she never saw coming. Not even her crazy ninja skills would save her now. There was only one thing that could save an agent in these circumstances. Their partner. And she wanted nothing more than for hers to appear, but only as long as it took her to say the three words she couldn't keep to herself anymore. And then she wanted him to disappear, because if he came, he would die for her here.

And Ziva wanted one of them to keep living.

* * *

"Okay, I hacked into their system through the same connection they used to gain access to ours." McGee said. "And it looks like they have a system in place for this. As soon as anyone enters, and that'd be you, Tony, they detonate a bomb on a five minute timer."

"I'm still going in." Tony said. They all stared at him. He stared back, looking just as incredulous at the thought of staying out as they did at the thought of going in. "This is Ziva we're talking about. I will not leave her here."

"What if she's already dead?" Gibbs asked, never being one for tact.

"If she's alive and I leave her behind, I will never forgive myself." Tony said. "I'm going in, Marines or no Marines, bomb or no bomb. You can let me do it blind or you can tell me everything you know."

It was the Director who broke the silence. "Let's make a plan." She said.

* * *

"What do we hear from Tunisia?" Eli David asked. His second in command looked at him with one eyebrow raised.

"Ziva is still alive, Director."

"But she will not be for long, I presume?"

"There is a bomb set to take out the base. Soon. Within days."

"Very well then."

"You feel no regret, Director? Over Ziva?"

"Ziva did this to herself." He said, in a tone that dismissed the other man. There in his office, Eli David sat as the orange sun sunk slowly, coating Tel Aviv in its rays. He took the photo of her out of it's frame on his desk and looked at in one last time, before placing it in the bottom drawer of his desk, with Tali and Ari.

"Goodbye Ziva."


	3. Chapter 3

**

* * *

**

Title: In Slow Motion

**Authors: Sara and Lizzie**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: We don't own NCIS. If we did, Tony and Ziva would be married with Italian ninja kids. **

**Summary: Picks up where Season 2 left off- we meant to start posting it earlier than the day before the season premiere, but that didn't happen. Basically, it's the Tony Ziva story after Aliyah, and yes, it's Tiva. There may be some Abby/McGee if we get particularly sentimental, and undertones of Gibbs and Jenny because....**

**IMPORTANT thing to remember, we tried to write Vance and hated it, so we took some liberties and decided Director Shepherd never died. **

**Enjoy and review!**

_Please just save me from this darkness…_

"Alright, we've got you up and running Tony." McGee said, giving a thumbs up to the MTAC coordinator.

"Aw, come on, McGee." Tony mocked. "You know I get performance anxiety when you turn the camera on." From her seat between Ducky and Palmer, Abby giggled.

"Be serious, DiNozzo." Gibbs snapped.

"Right boss." Tony said quickly. "McGeek, tell me how this is going down." McGee nodded and typed a few lines on a keyboard.

"To put it simply, we'll be able to watch you, even though you don't have visual access. Once you're inside, we can remain connected so we can alert the Marines if they need to assist in any way, but Tony…" he trailed off, looking uncomfortable.

"Spit it out, McGee." Gibbs urged.

Jenny cleared her throat. "From the minute they spot you and hit the detonator, you will have five minutes until the entire place blows up. Five minutes, DiNozzo." They watched as Tony gave a resolute nod.

"I'll get her." He vowed, more to himself than anyone else. "Then what?"

Jenny continued talking. "The Corps Commander will take you to the nearest secure medical facility. I assume Officer David will need treatment." Tony's cool façade faded for a moment.

_I hope you find nothing but a broken and lifeless body._ He shook the thought from his head and willed himself to focus. "You will find her. She is alive." He muttered under his breath. He turned from the MTAC feed and watched as the setting sun coated the desert in orange.

"We've set up a safe house for you," Jenny continued, "until we're certain that you can make your way home safely." She paused, looking slightly uncomfortable herself. "Agent DiNozzo. How can you be sure she'll want to come back?"

Tony turned around and faced the feed again. "I'm not." He admitted, shaking his head. "But she needs to make a choice. Once and for all." There was a grim determination in his eyes that impressed even Gibbs.

Behind them, Ducky let out a low whistle. "We will not see Agent DiNozzo again unless Officer David is at his side." He commented. Beside him Abby smiled.

"Because he loves her." She said, matter of factly. Ducky patted her arm, smiling.

"Abby, I consider myself no expert in these matters, but I do believe that he always has." They fell silent as Gibb's eyes moved from the clock to the Director.

"Light looks good." He said to Jenny. She nodded, hint of a suppressed smile on her face.

"Just enough twilight to feel safe. You don't expect an attacker is coming before the cover of darkness." She murmured as they exchanged a look.

"Your ready DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked.

Tony sighed. "Did anyone ask Cary Grant if he was ready to save Ingrid Bergman from the Nazi's in Notorious?" He didn't need to be able to see his boss to imagine the expression on Gibbs' face. "Right. Ready boss. Waiting for your go."

Gibbs gestured to McGee, who typed a code and nodded to the MTAC coordinator. "Commander?" McGee asked. "I have Director Sheppard and Special Agent Gibbs."

"Director. Jethro." Came a new voice. "All set?"

"It's a go commander." Jenny said.

"Yes m'am. Got the boys ready and in place. Won't move unless we get the order from you." Gibbs was silent and motionless for a moment as they all watched him expectantly. Finally he gave a slow nod.

"Go get the girl, DiNozzo."

* * *

Ziva wasn't positive what had happened. She felt something strike her on the back of the head, and then nothing but blissful blackness. As her eyes blinked open and consciousness reared its head, giving way to pain, she realized she was still in hell. The last rays of the sun were disappearing, and soon the room that confined her for the last months of her life would be black too.

She pulled herself into a sitting position, despite the pain it caused everywhere. As she sat there, head throbbing, she found her mind traveling to the inevitable nightly question. Would tonight be her last? The conclusion she came to tonight was almost enough to make her smile.

Anthony DiNozzo had ruined her.

Any sane person, even a Mossad agent with her training, would have been hoping, begging for death by now, but the thought that she might somehow see Tony again kept her fighting, no matter how badly her body screamed for her to give in.

Her head snapped toward the door, causing a world of pain, as she heard gun shots. She closed her eyes and waited for the door to open, for someone to pull her to her feet and shove her against the wall before dragging her somewhere else. She waited, but it didn't come. What happened instead convinced her she was either hallucinating, dead or dying.

"Ziva." It was Tony.

* * *

"Can you see Ziva?" Abby asked. "Can you see anything?" She squinted at the dark screen.

"I can't see anything." Palmer muttered.

"Talk to me, DiNozzo." Gibbs said. "DiNozzo? Tony?" Silence. "McGee, what the hell happened?" He demanded.

"We lost our connection." McGee told him, typing furiously. "Somehow we got cut off just after the gunfire. He's got four minutes boss."

"Commander?" Jenny asked.

"Still with you Director."

"Get ready to move in."

* * *

"This can not be real." Ziva breathed, staring at him like he was a mirage. "You can't possibly be this stupid."

"Did you just use a contraction?" Tony asked, furrowing his brow. She gaped at him.

"Tony," she said slowly, breathing fast. "You are here? For me?" It came out like it surprised her. Tony moved toward her, examining the chains that bound her hands and connected her feet.

"Well, I was in the neighborhood." He said. He stopped fiddling with the chains and looked her in the eyes. Kneeling in front of her, he smoothed the hair away from her face with his palms. "Are you okay?" he whispered. She nodded. _I am now._

"Listen Zi, we don't have a lot of time. I'd say two minutes until this place blows up Brad and Angelina style. Mr. and Mrs. Smith of course, not their home life."

Ziva's eyes flashed and she shook her head. "You will never make it if you are waiting for me." She whispered. "I need to tell you something and then you will turn around and you will run, Anthony DiNozzo." Her voice broke and a tear slipped down her cheek. "You will run and you will not look back."

Tony smiled at her and wiped the lone tear from her cheek. "Sorry sweetcheeks. Not going anywhere without you." He drew his gun and stood, pulling her gently up as well. She wavered on her feet, but he steadied her. He turned her gently around to face the wall. "Do you trust me?" he asked, timidly, as though he were afraid of her answer.

"Of course."

"Arms out David." She followed his instructions implicitly. He fired a bullet into the chains that bound her arms, immediately followed by one into the lock between her ankles. She gasped in pain she as moved her arms from behind her back. Tony figured they had a minute, maybe less. She looked ready to fall over, so he scooped her into his arms, placed a kiss on her forehead and ran for their lives.

* * *

"Do you see them Commander?" Jenny asked, her shoulders tensing. There was a pause.

"Nothing yet."

"Thirty seconds." McGee said as Jenny began to pace. McGee stared at the timer watching it click closer to the explosion that would certainly kill everyone inside that building. He had an idea, and after a few seconds bent over the keyboard, he brought up the visual feed to the building's exterior. Gibbs fixed his eyes on the entrance as if he could will Tony and Ziva to appear by staring at the screen.

Abby's hands covered her face as Ducky patted her back with his free hand curled around the arm of his chair. Palmer fidgeted endlessly, tapping his hands until Abby uncovered one eye long enough to smack him. "Not helping Palmer." She hissed.

"Fifteen seconds." McGee said "Twelve." He was about to announce ten when the building burst into exploded concrete and flame. They stared in horror, their expressions all the same.

"I'll be damned." Gibbs said suddenly. On the screen in front of them, striding away from the flames was very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo with Ziva David cradled in his arms.

"Commander? Get my people out of there." Gibbs said taking off his headset. "That's good work Tony." He murmured. "That was good work."

* * *

"Your really should get checked out too you know." The nurse said to Tony as he paced back and forth. "You look like you've been through hell." She smiled flirtatiously. Tony's eyes flicked over her. She was cute, blonde and way too young for him. Exactly the type of girl he would have flirted shamelessly with a few years ago, but now, all he could think of was Ziva.

"I'm fine." Was all he said.

"What were you doing out there?" she asked, leaning over the desk should stood behind and tapping her pen to her lips. "You don't look like a Marine."

"NCIS. And I was following rule number one." She grinned and twirled the end of her ponytail in her fingertips.

"What's rule number one?"

"Don't screw your partner over." Tony replied.

"Seems like a lot to go through, though." She mused.

"I'd do it every day to keep getting her back."

The blonde looked taken aback. "You take the rules pretty seriously don't you?"

"Nah. I felt compelled to follow rule number one after I broke rule number twelve." She raised her eyebrows, urging him to continue. "Don't fall for your partner." He paraphrased.

"Agent DiNozzo?" Tony spun around when he heard the doctor's voice.

"How is she?" Tony asked, feeling frantic, like he was about to spiral out of control. "Please tell me she's okay."

"She's going quite well considering her circumstances. She's suffered beatings, torture, multiple blows to the head. She has two recently healed broken ribs and she was definitely drugged several times." He paused. "Agent DiNozzo?"

"Call me Tony."

"Tony, this isn't standard procedure, but given her circumstances, I ran a rape kit." Tony tensed as his stomach churned. "And I found no evidence of sexual attack of trauma." Tony let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.

"Thank you." He said to the doctor. "So she'll be okay?"

He nodded. "She must have nine lives. The trauma she suffered would have killed most people, but she's a fighter. Hell of a partner you've got Tony."

Tony smiled proudly. "That's my girl."

* * *

Ziva was stunned to wake up and find she really was in a hospital. She tried to remember the details of what had happened. Every inhale, exhale, movement, word and whisper, but all she could remember was the memory of Tony's arms around her tightly, holding her to him. The feel of his lips on her forehead. She had been rescued. He came for her.

It was unbelievable.

"Welcome back David." She focused on the chair next to her bed.

"This has actually happened." She murmured. Tony reached over and took her hand, absently running his fingers over her knuckles.

"You're going to be okay, Zi." He whispered.

"I was so certain that I would die there," she said, her tone as hushed as his. "I thought…" her voice broke. "I thought I would never see you again. That how we left things in Tel Aviv would be the end and…" she stopped as tears began to slip down her cheeks.

Tony shook his head, stood up and removed his shoes before climbing into the bed and wrapping his arms around her. He wiped the tears away from her cheeks and rested his forehead against hers. "I will always find you, Ziva David." He whispered. "Go back to sleep. You're safe now."


	4. Chapter 4

**Title: In Slow Motion**

**Authors: Sara and Lizzie**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: We don't own NCIS. If we did, Tony and Ziva would be married with Italian ninja kids. **

**Summary: Picks up where Season 2 left off- we meant to start posting it earlier than the day before the season premiere, but that didn't happen. Basically, it's the Tony Ziva story after Aliyah, and yes, it's Tiva. There may be some Abby/McGee if we get particularly sentimental, and undertones of Gibbs and Jenny because....**

**IMPORTANT thing to remember, we tried to write Vance and hated it, so we took some liberties and decided Director Shepherd never died. **

**Enjoy and review! We're flattered at the adds we've got to alerts and favs, but we're insecure, so PLEASE REVIEW!**

_I've been waiting all my life, waiting for you to come around…_

McGee wondered how long it would always be this way. If he would always be the good son, who followed Dad's orders. He picked up the phone and sighed. Gibbs insisted he call Tony and find out why the director gave them the okay to come home and they were still holed up in a safe house in Port Sudan. McGee wasn't sure any of them would be entirely prepared for the answer, but he picked up the phone to make the call anyway.

Because he was Timothy McGee and that's what he did. Sighing, he dialed the international number and wondered if he would always be caught in between them. Tony and Ziva were codependent to be sure, but that was the least of their problems. McGee knew as he waited for Tony's voice that the most epic battle, the battle over rule number twelve was just beginning.

"I know, I know." Tony said, skipping all of the usual niceties. He knew why McGee was calling and who ordered him to call, but he didn't have any answers. Hell, he didn't have much at all. Ziva had been distant and silent. Even her movements were stunted.

"You were okayed two days again Tony. Gibbs wants to know why you're not even planning to come home." Tony sighed heavily. It was strange for McGee for Tony to act resigned in any way.

"Trust me, I'm ready." Tony said running a hand over his face. "We're barely speaking, and frankly it's awkward." McGee rolled his eyes again as he tended to do more frequently these days. Tony could be so dense sometimes.

"Use your words, Tony." He said slowly, as though he was speaking to a petulant child. "Ask Ziva what she wants to do." He waited, able to admit he had baited Tony on purpose with his tone, hoping to elicit some confidence but Tony only sighed again.

"I don't know what to do, Tim." He said quietly. "I need to know…I need her to choose, but I don't want to push her."

"I'll stall." McGee said, cursing his unwavering loyalty to both Tony and Gibbs that was constantly putting him in these positions.

"Thanks." Tony said. There was a long pause, a shared moment of camaraderie. In her absence, they had been more like equals than before.

"Tony?" McGee asked.

"Yea Probie?"

"Bring her home." McGee whispered. He had to bring her home. They couldn't work this way. It was impossible. The voice in his head told him that he thought no one would ever fit after Kate, but in his gut, he knew this was different.

"Believe me. I'll try." Tony said, his jaw set. He suddenly found himself itching to the have the conversation he'd been avoiding for days, patience be damned. If they didn't put this all on the table now, they never would. He had to ask her. NCIS or Mossad. Your old life or your new one. With me.

Deep breaths were inhaled and he clenched his hands in and out of fists, trying to channel his calmness, his unflappable nature. _Please pick me_ was all he could think. He opened the door from the small bedroom and leaned against the frame looking at her. She sat on the couch, fidgeting with her perfect hands. Her hair was curly, like it had been when he found her, and her eyes looked stormy, so dark they were almost black.

More than he wanted to talk, he wanted to go to her, kiss her, hold her. He wanted to feel her hair between his fingertips, feel her heart beat against his chest, because then maybe, just maybe, he would be able to stop pinching himself and believe they had really pulled this off.

"That was McGee?" she asked, breaking the silence. She turned that turbulent, stormy gaze toward him and Tony felt like he could go weak in the knees. There was so much passion in her eyes, be it good or bad, it still made his breath come faster.

"Yea, he wants us to bring him a t-shirt." He quipped. If they were undercover, or in some forest looking for an eyeball, or sitting in their car on a stakeout outside some seedy strip joint, that would have earned him a smile. Here, in this dark safe house off the Red Sea, her expression didn't change.

"You said us." She said finally. She had fixated on that word because it had always comforted her when he referred to them as a unit. Us, we, ours. She wanted those words to describe them forever. She wanted to tell him that he was all that she wanted, but she didn't know if she could. It was so much more complicated than that. It was family, country; the very country she had dedicated her life to. "What is to happen to me, Tony?" she asked.

He sank down on the couch next to her, fighting the urge to reach out and pull her to him. Instead he shifted to face her. "That's up to you Zi." He said. "Do you want to come home?" Her eyes widened at the question. She bit her lip and returned her gaze to her hands.

Tony stood up a little too quickly. He was desperate to keep his cool, but fear gripped his heart. Maybe she was going back to Tel Aviv. Maybe none of it was how he thought it was and she would go back to Mossad with one of her insanely arousing mysterious grins. _Thanks for the help, Agent DiNozzo_, she'd say with a wink before whisked back to Israel. "No?" he demanded a little too loudly.

"I did not say that!" she responded quickly. Her head was spinning. Could he really not know?

"You didn't have to!" he said, his voice at the same volume. She knew this decibel well; it was his heated voice, which meant he was a little more angry than his tone with just the slight edge, but not yet full fledged furious.

"I do not know where home is, Tony." She whispered, not meeting his eyes. "I called, that night, to have Michael taken back to Israel, I knew… I knew he was out of control. My father ordered the explosion with no regard whether I would be in my apartment or not. I do not know where I can call home."

Tony reached down to place his hands on her shoulders and gently pulled her to standing position. Ziva's whole body hummed with electricity as he tipped her chin up, forcing her to meet his eyes. "I know where you can call home. It's with us, at the desk across from mine. That's your home, Ziva." It sounded so good coming from his lips that she wanted to kiss him and make him say it again, but the twisted feeling in her stomach had not subsided; it was far more complicated than his words.

"And my father?" she asked. "Mossad? I am an officer, Tony. I made promises to my family, to my country." She averted her eyes again. "To my father." She said, because she needed to be honest with him. She wanted, _needed_, Tony to understand this part of her that she hid behind her ninja skills, as he called them, and trained to be stoic exterior.

Tony scoffed and dropped his hand from her face in disbelief. Her whole life she'd been her father's personal weaponry chest and she still couldn't see the exploitation, the abuse. He was powerless to stop the anger he felt. He was trying to do this right, to show her she wasn't another girl to him, she wasn't a conquest or a target or an assignment, she was everything. He had been patient, and willing and it never occurred to him that she might actually stay. "Some father." He muttered.

Her eyes narrowed and she stepped away from him. "What the hell is that supposed to imply?" she demanded, afraid to hear the answer. He was still her father, after all. "My father…" she trailed off, unable to fill in the blanks with anything she was certain of.

"He what?" Tony exploded suddenly. "He loves you? He wants the best for you? He took his _daughter_, someone he's supposed to cherish and protect, and turned you into a well honed killing machine. He tried to beat the feelings, the soul out of you, Zi, and he masked it with training!"

"Shut up, Tony." She said tightly. It was like having salt poured into an open wound, which she realized in horror, she had done on more than one occasion. At the request of Director David. "My father did what he had to. He taught me about country, service."

"He taught you to kill and torture!" Tony yelled, his face red, his chest heaving. Ziva wanted to shake him, but she stopped herself, fearing one touch and she'd be ripping his clothes off.

"You don't understand, Tony! You work to stop terrorists and you think you know what it is like. You have September 11th a horrible tragedy, and you feel as though you are running the run, really in the fight." He picked up a pleading tone in her voice, as though she needed him to understand this.

"It's walking the walk." He snapped. Ziva noted that his voice merely had an edge, it was not longer the high volume shout that made her wince when it was directed her way.

"My country is always at war, Tony." She said, quiet again. "The threats are constant, and immediate. You don't know what it's like until you've lost friends and family and your sister to suicide bombers, or Hamas agents with guns they bought from smugglers and arms dealers and my father has lost almost everyone. He wants to stop the loss felt by Israel." She paused, daring to look at his face. He looked interested, almost intrigued. "He ingrained that in me, in Ari and I. Nation, country. Yes, he made me a soldier, but for a very good cause."

Tony sighed. "Zi, he set you up." He said, watching her face carefully. Her eyes flicked upwards and in them, he saw confirmation, not shock, but he continued to explain anyway. "The mission that landed you in that camp? Daddy dearest knew you wouldn't be coming home and he okayed it anyway."

Ziva thought of her father, sending her out when she was a school girl with secret messages because she looked so innocent. Who would suspect a little girl of doing the dangerous delivery of Mossad? Maybe she was indispensable to him. It was a thought that haunted her since Vance forced her to return to Israel, but she always made excuses. She was his protégé, trained in his image. "How could you possibly know that?" she asked Tony, the venom in her voice a reflection of her confusion and anger with her father, not him.

"I know plenty, Ziva!" he shouted, angry again. "How the hell do you think I found you? I know this because Alif Sharon told me when I had a gun to his head. He told me there was Ziva problem, because big bad Eli David was afraid he didn't have his daughter under his thumb anymore."

Ziva blinked at him, suddenly realizing why he was angry. What he had gone through to save her. "You killed for me." She said suddenly, looking at him wide eyed. "Tony, I am so sorry."

"I'd do it again. I'd do anything…" he stopped himself. He was so in love with her he could barely see straight, but he was still Anthony DiNozzo and he wasn't going to throw his heart at her feet if he thought she'd just stomp on it making her way back to Israel. "What's in Tel Aviv, Zi?" he asked. "The problem you've created? You going to go back to Mossad, unable to trust anyone? Watch your back all the time, look before you turn a corner and wait for your own father to solve the Ziva problem for good this time?"

Ziva knew he was right, and she hoped, more than she hoped for anything in her life, that he was saying this out of love. She began pacing, knowing this was the moment. They were going to solve this tonight, one way or the other, once and for all. "So you think I should abandon my father and my county and follow you back to whatever life I may have left in DC?" She was shouting, but she wasn't angry. _Please say yes_, she begged him in her head. _Please let this be real_.

"Yes!" Tony shouted. "And with damn good reason!" _Be James Dean_, DiNozzo, he told himself. He was dangerously close to throwing his heart at feet anyway. _Be Brando_. Stay cool.

"And what is that?" Ziva shouted back at him, unable to lower her voice. Her hands were shaking, not from anger but from anticipation. This was the moment. The last four years, their whole lives maybe, had been leading up to this.

"Because I love you!" Tony shouted. They both froze, staring at each other, both of them knowing that just like that, everything between them had shifted, and in seconds, their partnership, their friendship, their lives, were somewhere completely new. Ziva was afraid to let herself believe it.

"Screw Brando." Tony muttered. "I love you, Ziva David." He said, sinking back onto the couch. She started to pace, overwhelmed. It was really here now. She was going to cut ties somewhere, forever. "Zi, stop." Tony said. She kept walking, afraid if she stopped moving, she would simply explode. "Ziva, you have to choose." He said.

Hearing it out loud, in the open, stuck forever in a moment where it could not be taken back stopped her. She shook her head, fearful that would he be explicit and that would only heighten the severity of her choice. "Tony do not." She instructed, her voice quiet but serious. Tony could hear how serious she was, but he didn't know why and he couldn't stop now.

"You can't keep doing both. No more liaison."

"Do not say it. Do not ask me-" he was done waiting. All the patience, all the waiting, all the dancing they had done for the last four years, all the dancing around everything, it had to stop.

"Mossad or NCIS?" he asked. He said it purposefully and slowly. Before either or them knew what was happening, Ziva was straddling him, her hand hovering by his neck. She was suddenly furious; he had put her in the most impossible position now. She had to leave Mossad or follow its rules the rules dictated that unless she cut ties with the organization she would have to kill the person who asked her to. It was her father's way of making sure that emotions did not make his officers weak.

Tony was baffled. Sure the way she straddled him with that fire in her eyes was hot. It had, in fact, been the subject of many of his Ziva fantasies over the years. The baffling part was the way she looked pissed and a little nervous. "Why are you on top of me?" he asked with a wry smiled, resorting to one of their many running jokes.

She almost didn't answer. A third option had popped into her head. She could do neither. She could get off of him and run and disappear somewhere. She had an escape plan, they all did, and if there was ever a time to use one, this was it. _Life without Tony_. It wouldn't be possible. Running was out of the question, as was killing her partner. "Did you not hear me when I asked you not to say it?"

"I'll say it again." Tony didn't understand the direction the dance had taken, but he'd try to keep tempo. "Mossad or NCIS?" She looked at him thoughtfully. Oh God, was she really going to do this? Cut ties with Mossad and all that came it with it forever?

"I could kill you right now." She said simply. Tony smiled his heart breaking, mind altering, life changing smile.

"You don't have a knife or a paper clip, David." He was more concerned with how close she was to him than anything else. Her strong legs bracing her over him, her hands on his chest. Focus, DiNozzo.

"I would need neither." She murmured, her hand creeping towards his throat. Tony's brow furrowed as his mind raced. It was crazy. A highly trained Israeli assassin moving her hand toward your jugular was something that would make most people terrified, but her hand dragging across his chest was distracting him from fear.

"I told you not to say it out loud because once you do, and you did, it makes my choice definite. I am free to leave Mossad. Under these circumstances, it would not be like one of your movies. There would be no burn, no price on my skull."

"Head." He corrected automatically. She glared at him. "I can leave Mossad, but there is a catch." One look in her eyes and he knew what the catch was, and as much he wanted to tear Eli David apart, he hated that it hurt her.

"You can't go back." He said simply.

"Leaving Mossad means leaving everything I knew before coming to NCIS. It means leaving my father. I may never be able to return to Israel." She paused. Yes, by God, she really was going to do it. "However, if I chose to stay with Mossad, I must follow orders. If you ask me to leave and I do not, I have to kill you."

Tony chortled. "You're joking." She just looked at him. He could know see why she didn't want him to say it. The stakes had just been raised. "That makes no sense. I know you guys have the training to stop having feelings, but come on."

"To a Mossad officer, nothing can be more important than country. Lead us not into temptation." She offered. She took a deep breath, and placed both hands on his face. Everything, she knew now, from the day she was born, to the night he carried her from that horrible room was preparing her for this moment when she would choose her destiny.

"When you told me about the bomb, and I said that I wanted to tell you something and that after that I wanted you to leave, do you remember that?" He nodded. The details were burned into his brain, and he had spent every night in this house tossing and turning, acutely aware of how easily they could have been different and he could have lost her. "Have you wondered what it was that I wanted to tell you?"

"Every day." He answered honestly. He noticed her legs weren't bracing her anymore, she was straddling him still, but there was… contact.

"It was the reason I kept fighting. All those nights in that room, my whole body on fire with pain and I fought so that I might have the chance to say I love you, Tony." He put his hands on her arms, her palms still on his cheeks. Was this really happening?

"What are you saying Ziva?" She smiled and brought her hands to the top button of his shirt. She was no loner Officer David of Mossad. She was Tony's Ziva. They loved each other. Her desperation to get the words out was replaced by an urge of a different nature.

"I am asking you a question." She replied simply, grinding herself against him slightly. Tony swallowed hard.

"What's that?"

"Very…" She unbuttoned the top button of his shirt. "Special…" Second button. "Agent…" Third button. "Anthony…" Next button. There was only one left. She locked eyes with Tony; they were both smiling and breathing hard. "DiNozzo…" last button. She ran her hands over the now obvious bulge in his jeans, her eyes locked with his as she undid his belt and slowly unzipped his pants. "Will you take me home?" she whispered. Tony grabbed her shoulders and pulled her lips to his, managing to deliver a heart stopping kiss and remove her shirt at the same time.

"I love you, Ziva David." He said again. Her bra fell away like tissue paper and she pushed his shirt off of his arms. She stood, extending her hand and pulling him up as she did. They lost their pants as she pulled him to the bedroom. He hovered over her, kissing her, teasing her. "Say it again." he said, grinning.

"I love you, Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo." She said, her voice husky and her accent stronger than it usually was. She put her lips to his ear and nipped it. "But four years is too long to wait, and I am out of patience." She breathed. He kissed her hard, plunging into her as he did. As he broke the kiss, she arched her back, threw her head back and finally screamed his name.

He wasn't sure how long they were in the throes, but he would always remember every touch, every sigh, every moan, or in Ziva's case, scream, and how she dug her nails into back. Now he was lying next to her, his face propped up with an arm, playing with her hair, unable to think of anything but how much loved her, and how gorgeous she looked lying there with a thin sheen of sweat covering her skin.

"I miss home." She said suddenly. She narrowed her eyes. "Have I been replaced? At NCIS?" she shuddered at the thought of someone sitting at her desk, flirting with her Tony. Watching him, smiling at him.

Tony laughed. "We tried and failed. Turns out you're irreplaceable David." He murmured, leaning down to kiss her forehead.

She couldn't get the smile off of her face. "I miss McGee. And Abby. And Ducky, and Jimmy. I even miss…" she stopped abruptly and turned to look at Tony. "Oh no." she said.

"Gibbs." They said in unison.

"We have killed rule number twelve." Ziva pointed out.

"And your apartment exploded." Tony said. "Do you even have any stuff?" Ziva groaned and punched him in the shoulder. "Ow!" he complained. She smiled and kissed it, making her way to his neck.

"Feel better?"

"Perfect."


	5. Chapter 5

**Title: In Slow Motion**

**Authors: Sara and Lizzie**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: We don't own NCIS. If we did, Tony and Ziva would be married with Italian ninja kids. **

**Summary: Picks up where Season 2 left off- we meant to start posting it earlier than the day before the season premiere, but that didn't happen. Basically, it's the Tony Ziva story after Aliyah, and yes, it's Tiva. There may be some Abby/McGee if we get particularly sentimental, and undertones of Gibbs and Jenny because....**

**IMPORTANT thing to remember, we tried to write Vance and hated it, so we took some liberties and decided Director Shepherd never died. **

**This chapter ended up kind of being filler... things will pick up soon. **

**Enjoy and review!**

McGee was trudging. It was a bad habit he had; Abby said that's how she could always tell when was upset because he started trudging. He knew Tony was due back today, and he hadn't seen Ziva's mini anywhere. McGee couldn't believe it; he had been so sure she would be here with Tony. As he headed for the elevator to take his seat at his desk and stare at her empty one, he saw Tony.

His head was down and it looked like his shoulders were moving. Was he _crying_? McGee had seen Tony through a lot in the past few months, but he was certain that he would have absolutely no idea how to comfort a crying Anthony DiNozzo. He watched from a distance as Tony moved closer to the wall. He listened and heard a low groan. His eyes narrowed. Suddenly a leg appeared and hooked itself around Tony's waist. McGee gaped in horror as Tony's head dipped to confirm he was indeed making out with someone.

"Do you have any idea what you do to me?" he growled. The tinkling laugh that echoed after it was comfortingly familiar.

"I think you have proved it very well." McGee was torn between being thrilled and wanting to throw up his breakfast. So the woman with her tongue down Tony's throat was the missing piece of their puzzle. He had brought her home after all.

"The question is," Ziva's voice came again, breathier this time, "Do you know what you do to me?" Tony whispered something in her ear that elicited a groan from Ziva and McGee was glad he couldn't hear it. They turned slightly, providing him with a full view of their hands; Tony's were in her hair and grasping her butt, hers had pulled his shirt from his pants and were hovering under them, along his abdomen.

"Oh for God's sake!" McGee said. Heads snapped up at the same time, and they parted sheepishly, but reluctantly.

"Guess the secret's out." Tony said, grinning at Ziva, not caring. They could be homeless and he'd still be happier than he'd ever been in his life. His eyes travelled over her body before locking with hers. Disbelief that he'd gotten so lucky combined with a feeling of all consuming love in his veins and made the grin broaden as he stared at her.

"Not so stealth." Ziva said. "Not three days out of Mossad, and my ninja skills are fading." Tony pressed a quick kiss to her lips.

"At least the flexibility skills are very much in tact." He murmured in her ear.

"Oh, this is too much for the morning." McGee complained. His voice snapped them back into the real world and Ziva looked at him brightly, as if she just remembered he was there.

"McGee!" she said, surprising even herself with her cheerfulness. The truth was she felt light and happy, more human than she ever had before. She walked to McGee and hugged him, no longer afraid of the contact. McGee watched torn between exasperation and amusement as Tony followed his hands while he wrapped his arms around Ziva, sure his arm would get broken if it went any lower than her shoulder blades.

"I can't believe you're back!" he exclaimed. "I didn't see your car and I thought maybe…" he trailed off, unwilling to bring up a sore subject. Ziva smiled up at Tony, who wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him. McGee watched in fascination as they immediately faded into their own private universe. He cleared his throat.

"We arrived together this morning." Ziva told him, wondering if she could make herself stop smiling if she wanted to. The last 72 hours had been among the best of her life. They had spent the last night in the safe house alternating between sex and conversation. No, she mentally corrected herself, alternation between mind blowing, earth shattering sex and easy, comfortable conversation. Even the big topics were easy.

"_Zi?" he asked, playing with her hair as they lay there, draped over each other in bed. _

"_Yes Tony?" She smiled against his chest; he had his good serious voice on. He only used it when he was saying something genuine, or asking for something he really wanted. _

"_Your apartment is charred wood." He said bluntly. She laughed and he smiled. He could spend the rest of his life listening to that laugh. _

"_As you have already pointed out, and as I well know." She paused. "It went up in shame." _

_He sighed. "Up in flames." He corrected. "You're going to have to work on those idioms if this is ever going to work." He said, his voice now mock-serious. _

"_I know it is flames." She retorted. "I just did that to annoy you." She lifted her head and winked. "Going to punish me?" _

"_Absolutely." Tony said without missing a beat. "Possibly with this question. Move into my apartment, Ziva." She was stunned. Whatever she had been expecting him to say, it was not that, especially after watching him resist and resist moving in with Jeanne. _

"_That was not a question." She mumbled, too taken aback to say anything else. _

"_Fine. Ziva David, former Israeli assassin and all around badass, would you like to move in with me?" She perched her chin on her hand and studied him, before she laughed again. Tony frowned. "I'm being serious, Ziva." _

"_I know you are." She whispered her laughter subsiding. "It is just so shocking after watching you grip your phone until your knuckles went white at the thought of moving in with…Jeanne, this perfect doctor, to think that I and all of my baggage could suddenly make you so serious. It doesn't make sense, Tony." _

"_It makes perfect sense." He said, pulling her close to him to kiss her. "I'm in love with you." _

"_And her?" _

"_Thought I was. Wanted to be. Believe it or not, I thought it would be a hell of a lot easier to be in love with my mark than my partner, and not just because you could kill me." She rolled on top of him and kissed him for as long as she could without breathing before sliding herself on top of him with excruciating slowness. _

"_I was praying for that to be the case the whole time." She whispered. As she did something with her body that made Tony's eyes roll back in his head, he thought with absolute certainty that no one in time had ever had a better life than this. _

"I tricked her into moving in with me." Tony said, offering a fist for McGee to bump. McGee tapped it halfheartedly, blinking in confusion.

"You're in love aren't you?" he asked as the elevator dinged open and the three of them stepped inside. "You're in love, and together, and happy. And Ziva looks like she has feelings." This was going far too well; they were used to explosions, and bodies, not happiness and having their team back together. "You _hugged_ me." He said accusingly.

Ziva shrugged. "Mossad teaches you that emotions will only make you weak. Now I know better, so I have decided to start showing them."

"She can show them three or four times in a night." Tony said, winking. Ziva smacked him in the back of the head, reminding McGee exactly what he was missing.

"Gibbs." He said. "Rule number twelve. Oh, you really broke rule number twelve." He paused and looked back and forth between the two of them. "You don't seem worried. You have to tell Gibbs and you're not worried."

"Ziva is going to tell Gibbs."

"Why me?"

"You're back. He missed you. Oh, Ziva, so glad you're not dead. Thanks boss, by the way I'm living with Tony in a romantic way. Oh okay, Ziva, I'll let it slide." Ziva hit the stop button on the elevator. McGee sighed and slumped against the wall.

"You tell him!" she hissed." You are his prodigal son."

"That's from the Bible."

"I am Jewish, not an idiot, Tony." She said. McGee rolled his eyes. They were fighting in the way only Tony and Ziva could- just when you think they're actually mad, there's a smirk or a look that reminds you how much they enjoyed this. "Besides, I was tortured all summer."

"I saved your life."

"I'm the flexible one."

"I can make you scream." Ziva paused, before taking two steps towards him.

"I can make you scream too…" she purred in his ear. "In pleasure, or in pain." She finished, smiling sweetly. McGee sidestepped as they came far too close to him, hitting the button and starting the elevator again, not that either of them noticed.

"You won't hurt me." He said, shooting her a grin that made her heart stop. "Where would you live? Where else would you want to sleep other than my new four poster beauty of a bed?"

"If you tell Gibbs, I will let you handcuff me to those bed posts." She said. Tony looked like he was about to strike that deal when the doors opened on the next floor to reveal Ducky.

"Why am I not surprised?" he asked, stepping on. "Welcome back, my dear." Ziva blushed and stepped back from Tony, embracing Ducky and accepting his kiss on her cheek. She was surprised at how much she had truly missed them all. "Are you alright?" Ducky inquired, holding her at arms length and eyeing her up and down.

"I am just fine, Ducky." She said, a soft smile on her lips.

"Well, you very well may not have been if it had been Jethro stepping onto this elevator." He said, smiling at them. He had always known it would be Tony and Ziva who ended up together.

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean, Duck." Tony knew the smile on his face was giving him away, but he still couldn't bring himself to care who knew. Hell, he felt like tattooing it on his forehead.

"Anthony, you forget that I see things other people, sometimes even Gibbs, do not. I knew in her first week you two were head over heels."

"And it only took four years to work out all of the stinks." Ziva piped up, taking Tony's hand. He lifted her hand up and mussed her hair with it.

"Kinks." He corrected, planting a kiss on her temple.

"Are you ever going to stop correcting my language?" she asked. Tony pretended to consider it, tapping his fingers against his lips before shaking his head. Neither of them noticed that Ducky had again stopped the elevator.

"Listen to me, you two." He said, commanding their attention. "I'm about to give you some advice. Do not tell Jethro. You need to have an ally when he finds out, someone who can soften him to his rules, particularly this rule."

Tony scoffed. "Ha. Gibbs bending rules? Please. God himself couldn't make that happen."

Ziva had a realization and turned to Tony, her eyebrows up. "But you are forgetting the Director."

"Ah. Gibbs. The Director. Rule number 12. Got it. If Gibbs asks, I know nothing, but I got it." McGee sighed, wondering if he was ever going to get off of the elevator. He really wanted to keep his mouth shut, but he couldn't do it.

"If Gibbs ever found out you went to the director before him, he'll go ballistic. And he'll probably kill the both of you." He pointed out.

"Which is why we would have to let the Director catch us." Ziva jumped in.

"And sit down to discuss it with her and Gibbs." Ducky finished. He pushed the elevator button. "The Director gets back from her visit to NCIS San Diego on Friday. Until then, Mum's the word." He said, stepping off of the elevator at autopsy. "I wouldn't tell Abigail if I were you!" he called over his shoulder. Ziva and Tony shot McGee a look.

"I won't tell Abby." McGee assured them with a smirk, "but you've still got to fool Gibbs until Friday." The three of them stepped off of the elevator into the bullpen and Tony frowned, letting his eyes glide up and down over Ziva's body. The body he had claimed countless times in the last 3 days, the same body he would have to feign disinterest in for five more.

"It's going to be a long week." He said lowly, so only she could hear him. She walked in front of him so he could watch her hips swing, and shot him a smile over her shoulder.

"Could be fun though." She said, winking. Tony grinned. If that's the way she wanted it, he could play that game. Covert would be his specialty.

Despite his newfound resolution to be covert, he couldn't keep the smile from his face as he watched her take a seat at her desk, feeling like the world that had been crooked on its axis the entire time she was gone finally righted itself. Her contended sigh from across the room let him know that she felt the same.

From the staircase above them, Gibbs' eyes narrowed. They weren't touching as they got off the elevators, they weren't making goo goo eyes at each other. They both looked happy, but so did McGee. To an outsider, the assumption would be that all was well, but Gibbs knew his team; he knew Tony and Ziva and the loaded gun of feelings between them. The lack of reason to be suspicious was making him suspicious.

"Agent David." He called, alerting them to his presence, "Welcome home." Suspicious or not, she was still one of his and he felt gratitude he was unprepared for seize him as he saw her there, smiling and alive.

"Did you say Agent?" Tony blurted out before Ziva could respond to Gibbs. His boss looked at him closely, noting the light in Tony's eyes and the grin on his face.

"While you two were on vacation in Port Sudan, the Director pulled a few strings." He deposited her badge, gun and Federal ID on her desk, along with a manila envelope. Gibbs could have sworn her hands were trembling as she picked up her ID.

"Special Agent Ziva David." She read aloud, glancing at Tony. Gibbs reached down and opened the file on her desk, and Tony practically fell over the front of his desk leaning toward them as Ziva sucked in a breath.

"It helped that Jenny grew up with the Director of Citizenship and Immigration Services. Your citizenship interview is in three weeks." Gibbs smiled at her obvious disbelief. "Like I said, welcome home, Ziva."


	6. Chapter 6

**Title: In Slow Motion**

**Authors: Sara and Lizzie**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: We don't own NCIS. If we did, Tony and Ziva would be married with Italian ninja kids. **

**Summary: Picks up where Season 2 left off- we meant to start posting it earlier than the day before the season premiere, but that didn't happen. Basically, it's the Tony Ziva story after Aliyah, and yes, it's Tiva. There may be some Abby/McGee if we get particularly sentimental, and undertones of Gibbs and Jenny because....**

**IMPORTANT thing to remember, we tried to write Vance and hated it, so we took some liberties and decided Director Shepherd never died. **

**It's been forever, but we promise to update. And we have two new ideas we're working on….**

**Enjoy and review!**

Ziva trudged back into the bullpen to find Tony sitting at her desk. On her desk, specifically. She smiled to herself and wondered how she had ever lived without this. Lived without love, really, she mused. "Hello." she said to Tony, feeling her own smile broaden as he flashed her a grin. Tony slid off the desk, put his hands on Ziva's hips and lifted her in a circle onto the spot on the desk he had occupied seconds earlier. She laughed in spite of herself, sighed contentedly as he rested his hands on her thighs.

"This has been a long week." she murmured. Tony slid his hands up her thighs and leaned toward her. She held out and pushed him back. "I am still mad at you." She told him.

Gibbs moved from the Director's office to the landing when he heard them speaking. His eyes narrowed as soon as he saw them; he felt the same underlying suspicion he felt while observing them all week. Ziva was sitting on her desk, and Tony was standing in front of her. They weren't touching, but Gibbs' gut sensed an intimacy between them. He stayed in the shadows, out of their sightline watching and listening to them in the dimly lit squad room.

He had been waiting for Jenny. He called into the office on her way home to discuss this very issue, the Tony and Ziva issue. His gut told him they were breaking his rule, and his gut told him neither of them cared. They were being careful, but he knew. He focused his gaze on them and listened as their voices floated up toward him in the empty room.

"Zi, no one is here." Tony said. "Director's not back until tomorrow. Gibbs is gone. Everyone is gone. Even McGeek and Abby left."

"Because you bet McGee you could name more than capitals than him. And you could not. And that is why we are not at home right now. And that is why I am still mad at you."

"This scan shouldn't take too much longer." Tony said, taking a step toward her.

"Good. Because I am starting to resent you for not knowing Oslo is the capital of Norway. If you had gotten it right, we could be home in bed right now." she said her tone suggestive. Gibbs stood ramrod straight. Tony pushed her knees apart and put himself in between her legs.

"You know, there is a benefit to being the only ones here." Tony said, kissing her hard. She wrapped her arms around and kissed him back, deepening it. She yanked his shirt out of his pants and let her hands play along his abdomen and lower back. He lifted her slightly off the desk long enough to allow her to wrap her legs around his waist. Tony trailed kisses down her jaw and along her collarbone until he found the spot in her neck he loved. She responded by pushing her hips into his. He groaned and moved to kiss her again, when he saw the Director over her should.

"Director Shepherd." he blurted out.

"Gibbs." Ziva squeaked. Tony gulped. He was dead. This was the end. They had broken rule number twelve. In the office. And not only had the Director witnessed it, but Gibbs had watched the whole thing from up top, which means he definitely saw the way Tony's hand lingered on her breast as he kissed her. Shit.

"I am almost wishing we were back in the desert." Ziva whispered.

"We should untangle." Tony hissed back. Their failure to separate was not helping. Ziva snuck a look at the landing. Gibbs looked more pissed than she could remember seeing. Ever. She nodded and removed her hands from under his shirt, which he left untucked in a vain attempt to hide the erection she had managed to cause in three minutes.

They stood side by side at her desk, both looking down. "That was quite the homecoming show." Jenny said, arching an eyebrow at them, looking torn between amusement and nervousness. "I think the four of us need to have a discussion."

* * *

Ziva was incredulous at the fact Gibbs had sent them to interrogation rooms, like they were suspects. He separated them immediately, and split them up. She sighed and tapped her foot. Her expression didn't change when Jenny walked in and sat down across the table from her. "I would like to know if I need legal counsel." Ziva said sarcastically.

"I wouldn't push my luck if I were you, Ziva." The Director said calmly. "Let's talk about this. About you and Tony."

Ziva hesitated for a moment, torn between her natural instincts and the Mossad instincts that were carefully crafted by her father. In her gut, an instinct cultivated by Gibbs, she sensed this was one of life's rare moments that called for complete and total honesty. The years she had spent as her father's spear, his spy, his killer, taught her that those moments didn't exist. She thought quickly about the years of her life that had been spent at NCIS, and matched them to the many before that she had lived as an extension of Eli, carrying out the work his Director's chair wouldn't let him do on his own.

"I love him." she said, looking Jenny in the eye, opting for Gibb's gut, and therefore, honesty. "And not because he pulled me out of that concrete room I went through hell in." She continued, speaking clearly, but quietly. "I have loved him long before that."

"When?" the Director asked, intrigued by her openness. Ziva looked at her again, this time with the tiniest hint of a smile, and warmth in her dark eyes.

"Likely moments after I first stepped out of that elevator." she admitted. "The first time I realized, or dared admit it myself for even the briefest of moments, he had trapped us in a shipping container. I was furious with him for that. Furious, freezing, and beginning to fear for my life. In his usual quest to elicit personal information, he was asking me questions, and he asked me the first time I realized Daddy was not perfect." she quoted. The Director nodded, a smile forming on her lips, and she looked at Ziva, urging her to continue.

"It was, at that time, something I thought of only in my darkest and most private mind." she whispered. "And yet, when he asked me, despite my anger, I almost told him. Years of mine and Eli's tortured relationship nearly spilled from my lips in a cargo container of all places, because I trusted him, and I knew if I said the words, he would know how to make them go away."

"And you knew." Jenny concluded, marveling at Ziva, as she often did. Everything life and God and country and patriarchy had thrown at her showed on her face now, but she could still trust, still love.

"I knew. I allowed myself to dwell on it for the entire evening, and the next day, until I pushed it down again. And when she, Jeanne came into his life..." she trailed off. "I know there is a rule, but I will not end this." she said definitively.

"Gibbs isn't going to like hearing that." Jenny reminded her. Ziva nodded resolutely, and continued nodding, as if she had forgotten she was in the midst of a conversation, as if she was unaware Jenny was waiting for her next move.

"I have never..." she took a breath and started again."Since I was young, too young, I have been conditioned, without question, not to feel, and certainly not to love. Emotions weaken you, Ziva, my father said. When my sister was killed, it only became easier. Until I got here, I was a machine. My father built me in his image, the image of his perfect soldier. I was a machine built to kill, not to feel. To trust no one, certainly not a man, save for my father." She stopped, her face twisting into a grimace Jenny couldn't quite interpret.

"Certainly not a man like Tony. He is an Italian, and Catholic for one thing. And he is the opposite of how we are trained at Mossad. The only men permitted in my life were my father, and men he chose, and I have been trained since birth to comply. Yet, even when I always thought I would return to Mossad, I loved him." Director Shepherd opened her mouth to speak, but realized there were no more questions that needed to be asked.

* * *

"Can I ask a question?" Tony said loudly when the door began to open. Gibbs walked in and leaned against the window across from his Senior Field Agent, sizing him up. He needed to know what this was to Tony. If it was just a reaction to nearly losing her, to the stress, he was shutting it down without a thought.

"You just did, DiNozzo, but something tells me I can't stop you from asking another one."

"Did I enlist in the Navy in my sleep?" Tony asked sarcastically, ignoring him. "Because, I gotta tell you boss, I'm wracking my brain, and I can't think of any other reason my personal life is an NCIS matter. And now that you mention it, did I kill someone? Hmmm, what would make me think that? Oh, got it. You're interrogating me!" he slapped the table and smiled an effected aw shucks smile.

"Are you done?" Gibbs asked, pulling out the chair opposite Tony and sitting down. He fixed him with a stare and was surprised when Tony didn't even flinch.

"I'm just getting started." Tony shot back, refusing to be intimidated. Yes, he loved his job, and yes, the man sitting across from him was the father he never had, but nothing, not his career or his make shift dad was worth losing Ziva for. Tony knew it was bad; Gibbs was the last person he wanted witnessing him in full on sexed up mode, but damn it, he was pissed. After all the unwavering loyalty, all the crap he had put up with, he did not need to be in an interrogation room waiting to be told he couldn't be with the love of his life.

"Don't bother, DiNozzo." Gibbs said, "I've got it all figured out."

"Somehow I doubt that." Tony said.

"It was a natural reaction. You find out she's in mortal peril, your adrenaline starts to fire, you think it's love." Tony immediately saw where this was going, and he felt like the very blood in his veins was starting to boil. On top of the table, his hands clenched into fists. "And then you actually rescued her. It was just like one of your movies. Hell, I'd know. I was watching. Goes right to your head, doesn't it? The way the pretty girl looks at you after you carry her from an exploding building?"

"Stop it." Tony said through clenched teeth. He was going to lose his remaining control if this went on any longer.

"When you met her, she was unattainable. Detached, Icy. Trained to be that way. And Tony DiNozzo attained her. She's the biggest notch on your belt to date, isn't she?" Gibbs asked. Tony was still for a moment, and Gibbs felt his heart sink. He hadn't wanted to be right about this. He opened his mouth to tell Tony it was over, and to tell him for the first time, that he was disappointed in him, when his prodigal son shot out of his chair so fast it clattered to the ground.

"I am in love with her." Tony said, his voice tight and even, but laced with fury and a venom Gibbs ad never heard before. "And I'm not you. Maybe you were stronger than me, but I don't care. I'm not you Gibbs, and she's not Jenny, and I can't let it go like you did." He looked at his hands for a few seconds, then met Gibbs' eye. "I love her." He said again.

So it was real, at least to DiNozzo. As much as he wanted to find that out from Tony for Ziva, he needed to hear it from Ziva, for Tony.

"Okay." he said, standing.

"Okay?" Tony repeated incredulosly.

"I need to talk to Ziva." Tony was replaying the exchange when Jenny walked in and sat down in the chair Gibbs had occupied.

"God, I hope you're the good cop." Tony muttered. Jenny smiled at him sympathetically. He looked a little frazzled, but not too worse for the wear.

"Gibbs was hard on you?"

"You'd think I would have seen it coming, after watching him do this, day in and day out for years, but I fell for the admission of anger technique." Tony told her. "Beginner's mistake. Funny how I'm used to interrogating, not being the suspect."

"You're not a suspect, DiNozzo." The Director said. "But given all of you two that we saw, this is something we needed to talk about." Tony's face froze in an expression that managed to convey embarrassment, disgust and just the slightest amount of frat boy arrogance. "You love her." Jenny stated, moving them past the scene in the bullpen.

Tony's head snapped up and he looked at her in surprise. He had expected her to play Gibbs's part again, only in a slightly softer, female way. "I think I made that quite clear when I went into the building with the death timer." he said dryly.

"When he told you that was a mixture of adrenaline and your natural need to be a hero, he had a point." she said. "People who spend a lot of time trusting one another with their lives sometimes think they've fallen in love. Especially in intense situations. "

"With all due respect, Director, Ziva and I are not you and Gibbs." Tony said. Jenny looked at him sharply, inhaling quickly and audibly, Unsure of what surprised her more, that he had brought it up, or that she had been thinking of it already. "I remember the day she showed up." Tony said. "Kate had just died, and I needed a distraction, and there was this girl, this assassin. And she wasn't quite like anyone I would normally gone for. Sure, she was beautiful, and sexy as hell, but I was in more a young, leggy blonde phase at that point. Still, I was so attracted to her, and within a few hours, even though I didn't even like her yet, I was picturing her in a white dress, walking towards me."

He paused, grinned sheepishly and looked Jenny in the eye. "Which of course, went against everything that pre Ziva Anthony stood for, so I blocked it out." Jenny smiled at how similar they were; it was charming really, the way they had both tried so hard to fight it.

"Until recently?" she asked. Another grin.

"Until we went undercover as husband and wife. Did me in with that assignment. I was in Heaven. First time I ever kissed someone and had it feel like that, like fire, spreading all over me. I knew it then, that I loved her, and that I would never be the same." He paused again, twisting his hands together before cracking his knuckles and turning his attention back to Jenny.

"Almost told her before I uh, met Jeanne." he said, looking at the table. "I was going to tell I felt so much for her, and that I had to do this, but she was it for me, but the more I thought about telling her, the more I was convinced she'd never feel it back. Which made it easy for me to think I could replace her with Jeanne, but it was never real." Jenny looked away, feeling guilty that she had ever put him, put either of them, in that position.

"And that's the whole sordid tale." Tony said, his voice cheerful.

"And now?"

"And now... I see her walking towards me, in a white dress. Only instead of being a distance fantasy, it's my future." For the second time in twenty minutes, Jenny was speechless.

* * *

Ziva yawned, looking purposefully bored as Gibbs slammed the door. So this is how she was going to play it, Gibbs thought to himself. By forcing him into a power struggle. Fine then. He would throw her a few power plays. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't put you on the next plane to Tel Aviv." he said.

She lifted her eyes to his slowly, like it was something she couldn't be bothered with. Gibbs was well aware of the fact this was all well honed strategy, but he couldn't deny she was good at it.

"Other than the fact it will more than likely result in my death?" she asked him, earning a curt nod in response. "Because he will come after me." she said simply.

"You sure about that?"

"Well he tracked me down in the middle of a godforsaken desert." she said, allowing a little agitation to creep into her voice. "Something tells me Israel will be less daunting."

"Well, he might follow you." Gibbs conceded. "After all, DiNozzo loves his women." he let it linger between them, waiting for her to react, and when she did, even Gibbs had to admit his surprise.

"You won't scare me into thinking I am the next in his continuing line of conquests. You do not see his eyes when he looks at me. Even the best training can not teach you to fake that." she said calmly. "Be honest with me, Gibbs. This is not about our intentions. He loves me, and I him. I would die for him without question. This is about your rule."

"You're damn right it is, David!" he said angrily, slamming his hand on the table. Gibbs was gratified to see that Ziva looked taken aback. "That rule exists because this is what happens. You fall in love, and he almost gets himself blown up getting you out of the desert. It's only a matter of time before you take a bullet, or shoot someone for him, and I care too much about both of you to let you destroy each other!"

Ziva stood, red faced and angry now, her facade gone. "My whole life, I have been told how to act, and how to feel. My father, if you can call him that, did not want me to possess the capacity to love, and he tried damn hard to make sure I could not, but do you want to know how I survived the summer? The torture, the constant pain, the fear? I survived because all I wanted was five minutes to tell Tony how deeply I loved him." She stopped shouting and composed herself before sitting back down.

"Every time I was positive I would die, I saw him." she whispered. "He brought me back to life after a lifetime of detachment, years of waiting to die." She paused and looked him dead in the eyes. "In Mossad, I never minded so much, that love and marriage and children were not for me. People spoke of forever, but the reality was that my forever was going to be quite short. With each birthday I questioned if that year would be my last."

"And now?" Gibbs asked.

"Now I am here, and happy. And now I am alive, with a forever that is much longer. And I know who I want to spend it with." With that, she got up, and headed for Tony's room.

* * *

"I understand your concerns, Jethro." Jenny murmured as they watched Tony and Ziva through the window. She bit her lower lip, feeling the weight of sadness settle in her chest for reasons she didn't quite understand. It was mixed with a little bit of envy; Tony and Ziva hadn't made the same mistakes she and the agent next to her had all those years ago. "But do you really think that splitting them up or forbidding a relationship is going to make any difference?" Gibbs knew it wouldn't. He turned his attention back to them.

"What do you think is going to happen?" Ziva asked, sounding scared.

"I know what's not going to happen." Tony told her definitively, reaching for her hand and lacing his fingers through hers. "You're not going anywhere Zi." He reached out and brushed a tendril of hair from her face. She smiled at him, somehow comforted by how sure he sounded, even though they both knew the choice wasn't up to him. "I see what he was doing," tony murmured. "He was testing us."

And with good reason he thought to himself. He didn't exactly have a model track record with women. There was his doomed relationship with Jeanne and a multitude of faceless flings and one night stands. And for years of his life he thought that was what mattered. His eyes found hers and everything that mattered was suddenly right there.

"Anything he told you about me and women..." He trailed off, unsure of exactly how to say it.

"I wouldn't let him." Ziva said quietly, looking down at the table, feeling almost embarrassed at the fear that suddenly seized her heart. She loved him so much it hurt.

"Its all true." Tony said quietly.

"I know." Ziva said a slight smile darting across her lips. "I have heard stories about it." She took a deep breath, forcing herself out of her comfort zone to the vulnerable place where she could say it. "I also have known, for some time, that with me it is different."

"You promise? That you really believe that?"

She nodded. "But I too deserved to be tested. For so long I..."

"I know."

"Do you think we passed his test? We did shit all over rule number twelve."

"Spit." Tony said, grinning. "We spit all over rule number twelve.

Ziva cocked her head and blinked at him, confused. "What is the difference?"

Tony considered this, and finally acquiesced. "Fine. Actually, in this instance, you're right. Shit works too."

Gibbs sighed on the other side of the glass before pushing the door open. Two heads snapped up expectantly. He nodded at them. "Just don't let me see it."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: So this is short, but we just wanted to do an update to get the mojo back, cause we're back, and we'll be writing again. Next chap will be longer. Basically, we're sticking with more and less with where this story was going when we started writing it 38589 years ago, so stick with us. **

**REVIEW. PLEASE. **

This was bad. Abby wasn't speaking to them, and neither was Gibbs. TonyandZivagate had officially hit the NCIS gossip chain, and the repercussions were unfolding. Ziva felt slightly as though she were in a zoo. She couldn't even step into the elevator without the other occupants whispering about her. This was her fourth trip down today, and Agent Blackwell and Agent Conteh were snickering about her and DiNozzo like she wasn't even there.

She tossed them a dirty look before stepping off and walking hesitantly into Abby's lab. She didn't blame Abby for being upset, but she was desperately hoping to win her over; they needed allies if Gibbs was going to speak to them again before he retired. She smiled when she saw that Tony had the same idea.

"Abby, come on," he argued, as Ziva sidled next to him, "Just let us explain? Or try? Please?"

"Abby we are sorry." Ziva added helpfully. "And it will not feel right if you cannot do the girl thing and, um, squeal." Tony shot her a look. "What?" Ziva asked. "It was the spur of the moment!"

Abby turned from her computer and glared at them. "Who has been trying to make you two realize how you felt about each other?" Tony and Ziva exchanged an apprehensive glance, neither of them sure if she was expecting an answer. She stood without speaking, arms folded over her chest, looking expectant.

"That would have been you, Abs." Tony responded.

"Who listened to you whine and complain and put up with your general bitchiness the entire time he was with Jeanne?" Abby asked Ziva. Ziva looked momentarily taken aback, but she smiled at Abby.

"You also, ever so kindly, drank with me when every time I caught them talking on the phone, for which I am still grateful." Abby nodded in acknowledgement, but her expression did not soften.

"And when you were all kinds of jealous of Ziva's mystery boyfriend in Israel, who dealt with you? Who hinted relentlessly that she was just hiding her feelings for you?"

"Also you." Tony admitted.

"So why, then, did you not feel I deserved to be informed when you _finally_ got it together?" She demanded. "Did you think it was pleasant or easy pushing you towards each other?" She watched them carefully. Tony reached around Ziva's waist and absentmindedly slipped his hand in her back pocket. Abby smiled a little.

"Was that a smile?" Tony asked. She shook her head, but her eyes had softened. Without warning, Tony grabbed Ziva and dipped her backwards into an exaggerated kiss. Ziva was laughing when they broke apart, and Abby had a sudden memory to one of their first meetings, when her impression had been had cold she was; constantly composed, as if no person, situation or feeling could phase her. The woman she saw laughing now might as well have been a different person. But Abby wasn't ready to let them off the hook yet.

"How did it happen?" she asked, her voice less hard than it had been, but still not friendly.

"Ziva jumped me." Tony replied easily, a smug smile on his face that dropped when Ziva elbowed him in the stomach.

"We had a fight." She said delicately. "About… everything. And then, yes, I supposed you could say I," she wrinkled her nose at the wording, "Jumped him."

Abby nodded. "Where is your car?" she asked Tony. He sighed heavily and gave Ziva a pained look. She rolled her eyes wordlessly and gave Abby a pointed look.

"Ziva insisted on driving today." Tony lamented.

"Hey!" Ziva exclaimed in protest. "When we arrived at the Navy Yard, you said you only feared for your life twice the entire way!"

"I was in a Mini Cooper," Tony said in disgust. "I drive a Mustang, and I was in the passenger seat of your Mini!"

"As someone who spent the summer being _tortured_ by terrorists in Somalia, I feel horrible for the trauma you endured riding in a small and efficient vehicle." Ziva retorted, trying to look as grave as possible with the corners of her mouth twisting upwards. Tony opened his mouth to bait her again, but Abby cut him off.

"Ziva," she began, a smile now evident on her face, "Where do you live?" Ziva smiled, almost shyly, and glanced at Tony, who spoke before she could.

"She's shacking up at la casa DiNozzo." He said proudly.

"Shacking up?" Ziva echoed, her I don't understand this language expression on her face.

"Never mind." Tony muttered quickly before Abby had a chance to explain. He looked toward Abby and was relieved to see that she was grinning.

"Oh, you guys!" she squealed, rushing forward to give them an awkward three person hug, "I _knew_ it would happen!"

"We're really sorry, Abs." Tony said, as Ziva nodded in agreement. Abby brushed them off, still smiling.

"It's okay, because this is so great! I knew you guys would work it out, even when Tim said there was no way Tony would like someone so intimidating, or that Ziva was way too smart for him!"

"Probie said _what_?" Tony asked, his eyes narrowing. Abby realized what she'd said and squealed again.

"Yay, Tony and Ziva!" she exclaimed, deflecting the question.

"Speak for yourself, Abs." Gibbs said, strolling undetected into the lab. His eyes flickered over Tony and Ziva before he turned his attention back to Abby.

"Hello to you too, boss." Tony muttered. Ziva squeezed his hand feeling slightly guilty that it was their relationship that was driving this wedge between Tony and for all intents and purposes, his father. She knew it was Tony's decision as much as hers, but she couldn't help but feel guilty. Her cell phone rang, interrupting her thoughts.

"David." She said into the receiver.

"Hey, Ziva. Boss wants you to gear up. Body in Anacostia Park."

"McGee, is this a joke?" Ziva asked.

Pause. "Uh, not that I know of?" McGee ventured. "Why?"

"Gibbs is two feet from us. If he wanted us to gear up, I'm sure he would ask us himself." She said, confident that as mad as he might have been, Gibbs wouldn't act like a child.

"Uh, he said he would prefer if I asked." McGee said apologetically, but loud enough for Tony to hear through the phone. Gibbs looked over, and caught Tony's eye before he stormed out of the lab. Ziva shook her head at him and followed Tony. Gibbs turned back to Abby, who had her arms crossed.

"Bad idea, Gibbs!" she scolded. "Don't take it so personally." Gibbs looked at her, feeling slightly wounded. Ducky, McGee, Jenny, and now Abby? She was _his _favorite, and she was supposed to be on _his_ side, not with the two who were threatening the team. He turned and headed for the truck.

"Et tu, Abby?" he muttered on his way out.

* * *

It was the first time in a long time that Ducky and Palmer had arrived at a crime scene before Gibbs. Ducky frowned; their late arrival could really only mean one thing- that the team was a bit… off. He knew Jethro well enough to know that while he wasn't thrilled that Tony and Ziva had broken one of his rules, he also understood why. What puzzled was his reaction, and why he had bothered to give them permission to break the rule if his only intention was to keep punishing them for it.

Ducky watched as the truck pulled up. "McGee," Gibbs called. "Bag and tag, sketch and shoot and talk to the witness who found the body." Tony and Ziva stopped in their tracks, both turning to Gibbs wearing twin expressions of indignation and fury.

"Uh, boss, if I do all that, we'll be here all night." McGee said tentatively.

"Well, yea, McGee. That's why you're going to pick one, and delegate the rest to them." Gibbs said, jerking a thumb at his other two agents. Tony's eyes narrowed. He didn't deserve this. After _years_ of trotting obediently around in Gibbs' shadow, happy to be the loyal sidekick, he didn't deserve to be treated like he was insignificant just because he was finally happy.

McGee looked between Gibbs, and Tony and Ziva, trying to decide how to handle his sudden responsibility. Ziva gave him a slight nod to show that she understood, and McGee noticed how she circled her fingers around Tony's wrist as she did it. He seemed to calm down slightly with this gesture. "I'll shoot and sketch." McGee muttered.


End file.
